Just over twelve months previously at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last granted the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest entrant for the 2026 season. Building the team from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the Apollo moon landing. As Formula One converges on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Tight Timeline to Australia
At the final race of the campaign to be hosted in the US, with just over 100 days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, the Cadillac F1 project have advanced rapidly but, in what must seem like a never-ending task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The CTO, Nick Chester, joined the nascent team in the spring of 2023 soon after it was formed, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its center from that point and has a knowing grin when thinking about the journey.
“There might be a short period reflecting at what the team has achieved and think: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in under three years,’” he notes. “And then the very next instant you consider: ‘Well, there is still quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Task
Nick Chester achieved victories at the Renault team in the driver Fernando Alonso's title-winning years of 2005/2006 and was in charge of engineering strategy at the then-new Mercedes Formula E team, but nothing has truly matched the task of launching the iconic American Cadillac name, a manufacturer-backed entry backed by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Creating an grand prix team from the ground up, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” Chester remarks. “It is like nothing else. In an existing team you don’t get the opportunity to change cultural approach.”
With each passing day that passes minds are sharper on the approaching critical moment in Australia and goals are being handled.
“You have to assume that any incoming team joining the grid is likely to start at the back but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented this year and while Nick Chester echoed this he believed the organization had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he emphasizes. “So that we turn up and we function efficiently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender performing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we have demonstrated that we’re really credible, then we will focus on progression from there on.”
Racing Talent and Hiring Drive
In August they contracted Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo distinguished for their vast knowledge in competing at the leading positions in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Bottas reflected the mood of determined optimism.
“Of course, we have a realistic outlook,” he said. “We have a mountain of work to do, and we expect most likely a difficult start, because this is Formula One. But our goal isn't to finish last. I believe with this structure, with this group, these personnel, there’s no reason why we can't manage to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal hiring has been in top gear, with employees now at more than 400 and scheduled to attain the goal of six hundred swiftly. In addition to their current base at the UK base, the squad are in the phase of completing an headquarters at Fishers in Indianapolis and there is the General Motors facility in North Carolina, where they are building the plant to produce the new engine, planned for the 2029 season – for now they will operate with power from Ferrari – and the Toyota wind tunnel in Germany. It is a complex organisation, different from the direction in Formula One for greater centralisation, and has led to the new cultural approach to which Chester referred to.
Apollo Inspiration
“We've drawn heavily from the NASA moon mission,” stated the team principal ahead of the Silverstone race in July. “We are pragmatic, we know how difficult it is. The timelines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we aren't launching a lunar mission, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have adopted, as opposed to the traditional management structure, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of Nasa’s, where there were a variety of specialist groups all working on distinct elements of the mission in a multiple sites.
“If you have to go through a protocol where someone has a problem and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a manager somewhere else, it travels back down, it’s super slow,” notes the CTO. “Therefore we enable people to take charge. Moving away from managerial sign-off for each action is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the heat of competition in 2026 and there is a considerable amount at stake for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their reserve driver the 25-year-old American Colton Herta
